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Zet
Citizen
Username: Zet
Post Number: 26
Registered: 12-2005
| | Posted on Wednesday, April 26, 2006 - 11:34 pm: | 
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I'm in a process of buying a house. The house is currently heated by gas. The sellers say the house does not have an oil tank. I have no reason to believe it is there, I'm just trying to cover all the bases before the purchase. Would the inspector be able to determine if the oil tank for whatever reason happens to be buried underground?
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Lizziecat
Citizen
Username: Lizziecat
Post Number: 1180
Registered: 5-2003
| | Posted on Thursday, April 27, 2006 - 12:01 am: |
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The home inpector cannot do a tank search, but he can refer you to a compnay that can. |
Mergele
Citizen
Username: Mergele
Post Number: 387
Registered: 7-2003
| | Posted on Thursday, April 27, 2006 - 5:05 am: |
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What you'll want to do is to have the property swept for potential tanks. Usually that includes a visual inspection of the interior and exterior foundation for evidence of piping, and then a trip around the lot with a metal detector. Costs about $250 and can be done by any of the companies that do tank testing.
If you haven't already asked, check to see if the sellers had this done when they bought the place. If they have and can produce the paperwork, you'll save yourself the $$. |
Zet
Citizen
Username: Zet
Post Number: 30
Registered: 12-2005
| | Posted on Thursday, April 27, 2006 - 9:43 am: |
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Thanks for the advice. |
joy
Citizen
Username: Joy
Post Number: 436
Registered: 5-2001
| | Posted on Thursday, April 27, 2006 - 10:34 am: |
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Actually - they have to produce some sort of proof there's no tank.
NJDEP is very strict. Our sellers (7 years ago) had to show proof that the tank was remediated before we could close.
While the house is now gas heated - unless it's new contruction - there's a good chance it was heated by oil in the past.
See the thread in this section from VIG why this is soo important. |
HOMMELL
Citizen
Username: Hommell
Post Number: 139
Registered: 11-2005
| | Posted on Thursday, April 27, 2006 - 12:58 pm: |
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Wouldn't the proof requirement only be if a tank was there in the first place? Some residences converted from coal to natural gas, without ever having oil heat. |
Zet
Citizen
Username: Zet
Post Number: 31
Registered: 12-2005
| | Posted on Thursday, April 27, 2006 - 1:16 pm: |
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HOMMELL: I was also wondering about that. How would I know that this was the case should the current owners claim ignorance on this topic? Would the inspector be able to tell, would the town have any records? Thanks. |
bmpsab
Citizen
Username: Bmpsab
Post Number: 213
Registered: 3-2001
| | Posted on Thursday, April 27, 2006 - 1:20 pm: |
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Hommell, I believe you are wrong unless this is a brand new requirement. I closed on my house in September (both buying my new one and selling my old one). There was no requirement that proof be produced about an oil tank. Now with the house we were selling, we were asked to rep that we did not know about an oil tank (which we didn't). Since our house was built in the 1930's, out buyers suspected that there was an oil tank at one time they were contemplating having someone do a metal detector search. They then, on their own initiative, did a search of the permit records at town hall, and were able to determine that our house never had oil heat (it was, in fact, one of the houses converted from coal directly to gas). The oil issue was then dropped.
With the house we were buying, since it was built in the 70's, we had no concern that it had oil heat in the past.
Hope that helps. |
Bob K
Supporter
Username: Bobk
Post Number: 11337
Registered: 5-2001
| | Posted on Thursday, April 27, 2006 - 1:32 pm: |
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There are usually traces in the basement where the oil lines came through the wall if a house had an underground tank, but I no traces wouldn't stop me from having a search done.
Bmpsab, what Town did you live in? When I tried to get a copy of an old permit from 1989 MW told me they only keep those records for 12 years.
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mwnewbie
Citizen
Username: Mwnewbie
Post Number: 27
Registered: 4-2004
| | Posted on Thursday, April 27, 2006 - 1:40 pm: |
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As of two years ago in Maplewood, you did not need to have proof of a remediated or removed tank to close on the house. Our home inspector noticed piping that would be consistent with an oil tank, although the current heating system is gas. The seller professed ignorance. We paid $150 to have the inspection done and discovered that the tank was still there under the driveway. We made proper remediation (and all appropriate documentation) of the tank a condition of the sale - this after conducting a search of town records and finding that there was no evidence that the tank had been remediated properly. Our seller, who was strapped for cash, somehow managed to find a company that allowed her to pay for part of the remediation up front and have the rest paid at the time of the closing. At the closing, all of the tank documentation was given to us.
We were lucky, there was no leakage and the remediation process was rather speedy. Having heard real horror stories, the $150 or $250 is well worth the cost if you suspect an oil tank on the site. |
Zet
Citizen
Username: Zet
Post Number: 33
Registered: 12-2005
| | Posted on Thursday, April 27, 2006 - 4:25 pm: |
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I checked with the town and they don't have any record that it was either installed or removed. It looks like I will be testing for it just for a peace of mind.
Thanks everybody for sharing your experiences. |
Tom Reingold
Supporter
Username: Noglider
Post Number: 13912
Registered: 1-2003
| | Posted on Thursday, April 27, 2006 - 5:15 pm: |
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When we bought our house, we paid an excavator to look for an oil tank, even though the seller told me there was none. The excavator didn't find one, using a metal detector. Interestingly, the excavator found record of the house being built in 1888, even though we thought it was built in 1903, so that was a fun fact. This was in 2003.
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mjc
Citizen
Username: Mjc
Post Number: 1095
Registered: 10-2004
| | Posted on Thursday, April 27, 2006 - 5:25 pm: |
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When we bought in SO in 1995 and asked about an oil tank, the agent told us "don't worry about that." So I followed her advice  and now we're really sorry. There is an oil tank under the front yard (or anyhow, there's a fill cap), and now that we're planning to sell we will have to bite the bullet and have it inspected/filled/removed, at whatever price that turns out to be.
I would highly recommend an inspection before you buy, esp. if it's only going to cost $250, unless you can get proof of removal either from the seller or from the town. |
Bob K
Supporter
Username: Bobk
Post Number: 11340
Registered: 5-2001
| | Posted on Friday, April 28, 2006 - 5:48 am: |
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The house we purchased had the oil tank removed in the mid 1990s when it was last sold. The owners were able to produce a letter from the NJ DEP stating no further action was needed. I think this is called a "no further action" letter or something similar. This was acceptable. |
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